You might remember the story we did this week about a Bradley County Deputy and city councilman being accused of making racial slurs on the job.
The information was originally leaked to us by an email account claiming to be with the NAACP.
The problem is, we checked with multiple NAACP Presidents and no one knows any thing about the "press release."
The email is from a Gmail account claiming to be the Southeast NAACP.
We contacted NAACP headquarters in Washington D.C., the Southeast NAACP President in Atlanta, and the Chattanooga NAACP President, and none of them knew who it came from.
In the email the writer gives the names of the deputies that accused Charlie McKenzie, and also blames Sheriff Jim of unfair treatment of minorities.
Chief Deputy Wayne Bird says that's just not true.
"If anyone knows Sheriff Ruth or myself, it's kind of disgusting for someone to make such an allegation. But employees who are terminated are strickly for cause, performance or whatever conduct," said Bird.
We also received a written statement from Charlie Mckenzie as follows:
"In response to phone calls and news reports.
Last Friday Investigator Walter Hunt made me aware of these allegations. Since running for and since taking office there have been some personal attacks against me. I believe they are politically motivated. I ran for office to serve "ALL" citizens of Cleveland and Bradley County equally no matter their color or race.
Due to my current health condition of pneumonia and respiratory problems and the added stress of these allegations, I did request a medical leave of absence and to my knowledge it was approved. I have no further comment."
